Car seal



July 23, 1940. D. w. ASHTN 2,208,717

CAR SEAL Filed July 2o., 1959 1716 16 i j 1l 10 l I Z zz BY n,

PatentedvJuly 23, 1940 l ITED STATES PATENT OFFIC CAR SEAL Douglas Willard Ashton, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, assignor to J. O-. Ker, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Application July 20, 1939, Serial No. 285,605 3 Claims. (Cl. 292-322) This invention relates to car seals. Many difa consideration of the following detailed specifi-- ferent types and structures of car seals have been cation taken in conjunction with the accompanypreviously proposed. In a great many of these ing drawing. proposals the main object has been to produce In the drawing,

a one piece seal with the casing blanked out to- Figure l is a perspective view of the seal accordy5 gether with the locking strip. Such proposals, ing to the present invention with the locking however, are disadvantageous, particularly from tongue secured within the housing.

the point of view of the amount oi material neces- Figure 2 is a perspective view of the locking sary and the waste of material apart from com- Strip reversed and showing the housing in dotted plication of manufacture. Other proposals have lines. "0

involved the use of separate housings and locking Figure 3 is a plan view of one side of the lockstrips subsequently connected together, with a ing strip.

view to avoiding the diiculties of the amount of Figure 4 is a side elevation of the locking strip material used and loss of material through waste. with parts of it shown in section, and

Such latter proposals, while in many cases avoid- Figure 5 is an-enlarged fragmentary section of l5 ing the cliniculties stated, are objectionable from the seal with the locking strip engaged within the the point of View that they still retain the diihousing. culty of complication in manufacture and assem- Referring to the drawing,` A indicates the car bly, while in many cases-they do not provide for seal as a whole which includes a locking strip B a strong non-tamper proof seal. and a housing C. The locking strip B is formed 20 The present invention relates to a seal of the at one end with a hook-shaped locking tongue Il) second mentioned class wherein the housing and which is orilced as at Il to co-operate in the locking strips are formed separately from one locking of the tongue within the housing C. Thev another and a main object of the invention is to ODDOSit@ end Of the lOCking strip is provided with provide a seal wherein the parts may be formed complementary means t0 TeCeiVe the HOOK-Shaped 25 separately by simple operations and may be united tongue, in the form of a walled receiving chamber in a particularly simple manner to provide in efl2 which is formed by pressing a portion of the feet a one piece seal. material from the locking strip, as indicated at A further object of the invention is to provide I3, in SllCh a m3111161 21S t0 -pTOViCe a SlOPed guidea device of this character which may be so con- Way i4 and an Opening l5 facing towards the end 30 structed as to provide a particularly strong seal 0f the Strip adjacent t0 Which the IeCeiVing Chanwhich cannot be tampered with successfully withber is formed. As noted in Figure 3, the receiving out destroying the seal. chamber, or in other words the pressed portion A still further object of the invention is to of the locking Strip, iS Of Substantial Width, leavprovide a device of this character which may be ing comparatively ne margins I6 of the strip of 35 quickly .manufactured in quantity and which may material in the plane of the strip and the opening be produced at low cost. I5 is oi a width to accommodate the width of the With these and other objects in view the invenlocking tongue Ill.- The main dening wall of tion resides generally in a car seal embodying a the receiving chamber l2 has a lug Il struck from 40 strip of material formed with a hook-shaped it so as to project within the chamber', this vlug o locking tongue at one end and a Walled receiving being preferably pointed, as indicated at I8 (Figs. chamber adjacent the other end pressed from 2 and 3). the plane of the strip, the chamber having an The housing C is designed to be fitted over accessible opening facing the end of the strip to that end of the locking strip carrying receiving which it is adjacent to permit entry of the locking chamber l 2 and upon reference to Figure 5 it will 4r tongue to the chamber, the end of the strip carrybe seen that the bottom wall I9 of the housing ing the chamber being enclosed by a housing C forms the bottom wall of the receiving chamber walled on all sides and open at one end so as to I2 so that this receiving chamber is closed comencase the chamber but permitting entry of the pletely on all sides and the only access thereto is locking tongue thereto, the housing being inteby way of the opening I5. The housing C is grally connected with the strip, and the chamber formed of such a depth as to accommodate the and locking tongue having co-operating means receiving chamber and permit a space 2li between to retain the tongue when inserted in the chamthe top of the receiving chamber and the top Wall ber and thus hold the tongue within the housing. of the housing which forms a passageway for the The invention will be fully appreciated from insertion ofthe locking tongue and of the strip.

The housing C is designed to be connected with the locking strip by way of spot welding. as indicated at 2l and the bottom wall of the housing is preferably extended in the form of an apron 22 which facilitates the welding operation as it permits the welding point to be positioned outside the housing, while on the other hand the apron 22 forms a reinforcement for the locking strip at a point where strain may ordinarily occur.

It will be appreciated that the locking strip may be assembled and united to the housing C in a very simple operation by reason of the fact that the locking strip is provided with a spacer 23 which constitutes that part of the material of the strip in advance of the receiving chamber I2 and terminating in that end of the strip adjacent to which the receiving chamber is formed. Thus by employing a spacer of this character positioned in the plane of the strip and in advance of the receiving chamber, it is obvious that the operation of assembly merely requires the insertion of that end of the locking strip in the housing, whereupon all parts are immediately positioned in their proper relation with one another so that the assembly of the housing and locking strip merely constitutes a routine operation which can be eiected substantially simultaneously with the welding operation and all seals so manufactured must necessarily be identical.

In locking the seal it will be appreciated that it is only necessary to bend the locking strip and insert the hooked locking tongue in the housing. In this instance, the inclined guideway I4 formed on the wall of the receiving chamber I9 guides the locking tongue to the passageway 20 and the locking tongue may be moved to the inner end of the housing, at which point the extreme .end 21% of the locking tongue will pass the inner end 25 oi the top wall of the receiving chamber so that the end 2f! of the tongue may then be positioned in line with the opening I5 of the receiving chamber. Upon pulling that part of the strip carrying the locking tongue, the-locking tongue will enter the receiving chamber and will tend to deflect the lug Il such that it will nally lodge in the orice Il in the locking tongue, as shown in Figure 5. Thus, the locking tongue cannot be disengaged from the lug or removed from the receiving chamber without breaking the seal.

Attention is directed tothe fact that in attempting to pull upon that portion of the locking strip carrying the locking tongue, the bent or hooked portion of that end of the strip will bear against the inner end 25 of the top wall of the receiving housing and this will relieve strain on the lug Il under such conditions. However, a continued pull on this part of the strip would still be iirmly resisted by the locking means by reason oi the fact that the lug I'I would bear against the bottom wall I9 of the housing C and strongly resist any attempt to pull the locking tongue from the housing. Thus a very sturdy structure is produced which is enhanced by the fact that the top wall I3 of the receiving chamber, which acts as a resisting agent in the case of the strip being pulled in this manner, is an integral part of the strip by reason of the fact that it is part of that portion pressed from the strip. Therefore it will not have any tendency to bend and double under any strain imposed upon it as such tendency is immediately offset by the side walls which join the top wall I3 with the strip.

It will further be appreciated that since the sides of the receiving chamber I2 are substantially close to the marginal edges of the strip, there is very little space left between the sides of the receiving chamber and the side walls of the housing C. Thus it is not possible for one to insert an instrument into the housing which will have any eiect in an attempt to disengage the locked parts. l

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the seal of the present invention is one which is sturdy of construction, is tamper-proof and may be manufactured and assembled in simple operations at low cost and without waste of material in its manufacture.

What I claim is:

1. A seal comprising a strip of material formed with a hook-shaped locking tongue at one end and a rigid walled receiving chamber located substantially at the other .end pressed from the plane of the strip, said chamber having an accessible opening facing the end of the strip to which it is adjacent and designed to permit entry of the locking tongue to the chamber, a housing walled on all sides and open at one end designed to ilt over one end of the strip and encase the receiving chamber, the housing being integrally connected with said strip, said open end forming an lentrance to the housing whereby the locking tongue may be inserted in said housing, retaining means within the receiving chamber and cooperating means carried by the locking tongue whereby said tongue is retained when inserted in said chamber and held within the housing.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, in which the retaining means for the chamber is in the form of an inclined lug struck from a wall of the chamber and projecting therewithin, in a direction opposed to the opening to the chamber, the locking tonguebeing formed with an orice designed to be traversed by the lug when the tongue enters the chamber.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, in which the bottom wall of the housing is extended beyond the other Walls forming an apron contiguous with a portion of the strip outside the housing and providing a means for connecting the housing to the strip.

DOUGLAS WILLARD ASHTON. 

